The Promise
by starbuckfaerie21
Summary: What if Oliver had accidentally shot Marissa in the penthouse during Season One The Truth


**The Promise**

An O.C. fanfiction

**Disclaimer**: The O.C. belongs to Josh Schwartz and FOX, not me. Sadly Ben Mackenzie doesn't belong to me either. Don't I wish! Bits of dialogue taken from the actual episode.

**Rating: T**

**Pairing: **Ryan/Marissa or Mack/Misch as I like to call them

**Summary: **What if Oliver shot Marissa in the penthouse at the end of Season One episode "The Truth"? Read on to find out and please review! Bits of dialogue borrowed from the episode New to O.C. fandom please review!

_Doing everything by halves,_

_You've got a real flair with excuses_

_Meeting someone at the bar_

_Where loose ends still have uses_

_It's complicated,_

_This time I think it could be triangulated_

_It could be just what we need _

_So what do you say? _

_We give it up and walk away_

_Nothing to salvage anyway_

_Liar."_

_­_- Imogen Heap, _Loose Ends_

After fighting with Ryan, Marissa knocked on the door of Oliver's penthouse and rubbed away the tears from her face.

Oliver opened the door and smiled at Marissa.

"Hey."

"Hey," she replied tearfully. "Do you mind if I stay here tonight?"

Without a word he invited her inside and closed the door.

She had just unwittingly gotten more than she'd bargained for.

Later while Oliver was in the shower, Marissa went to the front desk to get her bag. It hadn't arrived yet but she talked with the concierge, a very cordial middle-aged woman whose nametag read NATALIE.

Alarm bells went off in Marissa's head. _Oh my God, Ryan was right! I've got to get out of here!_

She went back up to the penthouse and tried her best to convince Oliver that nothing was wrong but when she told him about her encounter with Natalie, the desk clerk and he freaked out. And when she tried to leave he grabbed her arm and twisted it to the point of pain.

She told Oliver that she would stay and got him calm enough to take a shower and she hoped that would keep him distracted long enough for her to call the one person she knew she could always count on for help.

Ryan.

She grabbed her phone and dialed Ryan's number in a panic.

It rang.

_Once._

_Twice._

_Three times._

"C'mon, pick up." Marissa whispered to herself, desperately hoping to hear his voice at the other end of the line.

The phone in the pool house rang three times before a sleepy Ryan finally answered.

"Hello?"

"Ryan, it's me!"

The panic in Marissa's familiar voice brought him to instant alertness and he sat up.

"What's going on? Where are you?"

"I'm at the hotel but I can't really talk right now…It's Oliver…he's….You were right and now he won't let me leave."

Suddenly Oliver burst back into the room with a pistol in one hand. "Hang up!

Tears of fear filled Marissa's eyes as she slowly pulled the phone away from her ear.

"Hang up the phone…please!" Oliver managed to order Marissa as he shed his own tears of anger and desperation as he felt himself slowly spiraling into madness.

Changing his mind, Oliver commanded Marissa. "Give me the phone."

On the other end of the line, Ryan heard a tearful Marissa ask Oliver, "What are you doing?"

"Wait, what's going on…Marissa?" Ryan asked his voice rising in anxiety.

Suddenly Marissa's voice on the phone was replaced by Oliver's and he said just two words.

"Bye, Ryan."

The line went dead.

Ryan burst into the main house interrupting the latest installment of the Seth, Anna, Summer triangle.

"Hey, food's here." Sandy paused and looked at Ryan, who was zipping up his jacket. "Hey, where you going?"

"I think Marissa's in trouble; I'm just going to make sure she's okay."

"Gimme the keys," Sandy said, his tone turning parental in an instant.

"Sandy, I have to go." Ryan met his gaze and searched desperately for understanding.

"Gimme the keys." Sandy repeated.

"You said if I needed help, I could come to you."

"Gimme the keys!" Sandy interrupted loudly cutting the flow of Ryan's words. "I'll drive."

After some creative thinking at the front desk, Ryan and Sandy were escorted up to the penthouse by none other than Natalie Bishop.

She knocked briskly. "Oliver…Oliver, are you there? It's Natalie."

Oliver looked at Marissa and then around the room like a deer in the headlights.

"Oliver, I'm coming in…"

"Uh, no…that's okay…I'm fine…I just got out of the shower." Oliver shouted through the door.

"Oliver…please…" Marissa begged.

Oliver silenced her as Natalie turned to face a concerned Ryan and a worried Sandy.

"I guess he's fine."

Sandy sighed, "Well, thanks for checking, we'll go."

"No, no." Ryan said, unconvinced by Oliver's act of innocence.

He pounded on the door. "Marissa!"

Silence.

"All right. Let's go," Sandy said.

"Marissa!" Ryan screamed this time, knowing with all his heart that something was wrong and that Oliver was somehow forcing her to keep silent.

"Ryan, he's got a gun!" Marissa replied, terrified from the other side of the door.

Suddenly two armed security guards, surrounded by Sandy, Natalie and Ryan entered the room.

"C'mon son, put the gun down." One guard said in an attempt to talk Oliver down.

"Or what? You'll shoot me? Let me save you the trouble."

"You don't want to do that," Sandy's voice of reason.

Oliver held the gun to his head and looked at Marissa. "I'm sorry."

"Oliver," Ryan said, "Put the gun down, man."

"Why, hey man, I'm doing you a favor."

"Why? Why would you want to do that? You hate me."

Oliver held the gun fast to his head.

"That's right…you do this, you won't hurt me, you'll hurt Marissa, the one person that cares about you, and I know you don't want to do that. Put the gun down, man."

"You don't know anything about me." Oliver said as he held the gun.

"I know what it's like to be abandoned by your parents, your friends, and to have no one in your life who believes in you but put the gun down and you get a second chance."

Oliver cried tears of deep inner pain and bent forward but as he threw the gun to the floor it went off and a stray bullet flew across the room to Oliver's right, striking Marissa in the abdomen.

"Marissa!" Ryan shouted as he saw her crumble to the floor in pain.

The security guards and Sandy ran to tackle Oliver but Ryan ran to Marissa and cradled her in his arms as deep crimson blood soaked through her white blouse.

"Ryan, I'm sorry…I'm so sorry." Marissa said, her voice trailing off as she felt consciousness slipping away.

"It's okay…its okay… don't try to talk…just stay awake, Marissa, look at me!"

Ryan pressed one hand over Marissa's wound, her blood staining his hand.

Somewhere behind him, Ryan heard Sandy on the phone with 911.

Everything else was a blur, paramedics loading her into an ambulance, he and Sandy riding along, Summer, Seth, Kirsten, Julie, and even Luke arriving at the hospital.

Ryan lost track of how many cups of bad hospital coffee he'd had when a doctor came toward the crowd that had formed around him in the waiting room.

"Friends and family of Marissa Cooper?"

Everyone nodded and got to their feet.

"She's out of surgery. Fortunately the bullet missed any major organs and eventually we were able to stop the bleeding. I'd like to keep her overnight for observation. By the way, which one of you is Ryan?"

"That's me," Ryan said.

"She's been asking for you since she came out of surgery. She's been moved to a room. You can see her now. Don't be surprised if she doesn't make much sense though. And don't stay long. She needs to rest."

Ryan nodded and headed for Marissa's room and quietly went inside. Marissa looked pale and fragile lying in the hospital bed with an IV line in one arm. The image made his heart ache. Unbidden images of Marissa unconscious in Tijuana came to mind. He shook his head to clear it and gently took hold of her hand.

"Marissa? Can you hear me?"

At the sound of his voice, she stirred and opened her eyes

"Ryan?" she asked her voice weak and cracking from lack of use.

"Hey, I'm right here. How you feeling?"

"Pretty crappy." She answered with a chuckle.

Her laughter always seemed contagious so Ryan laughed too.

"You need anything?"

"I need to say I'm sorry."

"I should have trusted you but I was just trying so hard to be Oliver's friend that I didn't want to believe anything bad about him. I never meant to hurt you."

"I know and I just wanted to keep you safe."

"I'm so sorry I screwed everything up."

"You didn't…we both did." He said taking her hand again.

"I just want everything to go back to the way it was…before Oliver."

"We can't just pretend this never happened. You got shot Marissa! He could've killed you!"

"I know. I have the stitches and the searing pain to remind me."

At the thought of Marissa's pain, his expression softened a bit.

"Can I get you anything?"

"Maybe some ice chips? My throat hurts."

"That I can do. Be right back."

After a moment Ryan returned with a Styrofoam cup filled to the top with ice chips.

"I'm surprised you didn't want me to smuggle in cheeseburgers and chili fries."

"When I get out of here we can go together okay?"

"Sure. Whatever you want." He said handing her the cup of ice chips.

Marissa tried to sit up to reach for them but quickly drew back in pain.

"Hey, hey, hey. Take it easy."

"Ryan I'm really okay."

"No, you're not. You were shot."

He put a comforting hand on her collarbone and guided her shoulders back onto the pillow.

Ryan took a few steps closer to the bed and held the cup of ice chips in one hand. He took one from the cup and drew it across her dry, chapped lips. Marissa opened her mouth slightly and Ryan put the rapidly melting piece of ice in her mouth. In that moment the chemistry between them was palpable and seconds later they were kissing.

"I'm glad you're okay." Ryan murmured between kisses.

"Thanks for coming to my rescue." Marissa replied breathlessly.

"Anytime." Ryan whispered, breathing in the scent and the softness of her skin.

"Promise we'll trust each other from now on?" Marissa asked as she ran her fingers through Ryan's sandy blonde hair.

"Promise." Ryan affirmed as he planted a trail of kisses down her neck.

"Oh yeah, that's hot, Coop!" Ryan stepped back from Marissa to see Summer standing in the doorway of her hospital room.

"Hey Sum..." was all Marissa managed to say as her ears and cheeks turned a bright shade of red with embarrassment.

"We were just….uh…" Ryan muttered, suddenly regretting ever opening his mouth in the first place.

"Save it Chino. I know what you two were doing. And in a public place now less! Have you no shame? At least close the door!"

At this neither Marissa nor Ryan could hold back laughter.

"What's up Sum?" Marissa asked when her laughter subsided.

"The doctor sent me in to get Chino out of here. Apparently you need to rest."

"Yeah, I should go." Ryan said.

"Promise you'll come back?" She asked grasping his hand and pulling him back toward her.

As a reply he gave her a quick, yet no less passionate kiss on the lips.

"Promise." Ryan said before following Summer out of the room.

_Finis_


End file.
